the official thread 12 "utada hikaru

[GRACE]

The bridge to Celebrate is LOVE. Pure love.

I wasn't too pleased with the other album tracks though, Prisoner of Love gave me a headache >_<. Though I enjoyed the single tracks, mostly, and Fight the Blues is pretty good too

All in all, not an album I'll be purchasing. It was a definite drop since Ultra Blue, which is my favorite Hikki album

Okay, so after listening to the album tracks from HS and the album tracks from UB, I have to say UB totally pwns. "BLUE", "Making Love", "This Is Love" and "One Night Magic" were so much better. Only "Fight The Blues" can really compete with the quality of those songs IMO. This album definitely won't be taking the throne from ULTRA BLUE any time soon

[cloud♥honey]

My favorite albums for now:

01. DEEP RIVER
02. FIRST LOVE
03. Ultra BLUE
04. HEART STATION
05. DISTANCE
06. EXODUS

[ayumisrael]

Ok my list after hearing the album again:

01. Deep River
02. Distance
03. ULTRA BLUE
04. HEART STATION
05. First Love
06. EXODUS

It's mainly a matter of preference, HS isn't bad at all but I loved DR, Distance and UB better.

I changed my mind XD

01. ULTRA BLUE
02. DEEP RIVER
03. HEART STATION
04. Distance
05. EXODUS
06. First Love

[Beauty4123]

my ranking

1. DEEP RIVER
2. HEART STATION
3. ULTRA BLUE
4. EXODUS
5. Distance
First Love

[Luv ~Venus~]

Why is First Love at the bottom for you guys? It's such a good album!

Originally Posted by Luv ~Venus~

Why is First Love at the bottom for you guys? It's such a good album!

It's the only album that I only really listen to the singles. The rest of the album has too much filler in my opinion.

[[kokoro♥]]

I think First Love is the only album without fillers, personally XD;;

My List:

1. Ultra Blue
2. First Love/Exodus
3. Deep River
4. Heart Station
5. Distance

[bluegie]

Originally Posted by Akutenshi

Let me put it this way: if you're expecting anything like her last albums, you'll be mostly disappointed. It has hints of ULTRA BLUE with the synth, and I even think it slightly resembles Distance with tracks like Prisoner of Love, Kiss & Cry, and Niji-iro Bus, but the entire album as a whole is so much more relaxed and mellow. Some people, like me, really enjoy it, but it seems like a lot of others don't.

Thank god then. Honestly besides the single songs and Sunday Morning (fun to listen?), I think ULTRA BLUE is pretty meh. I dun even like Kairo (very boring to me).

So my ranking w/o HEART STATION:

- DEEP RIVER (always her best. except i dun like PLAY BALL + ASAP)
- First Love (the only album that I can listen w/o skipping any track)
- ULTRA BLUE (only because I love the single songs)
- Distance (the album tracks are weak)

[GRACE]

Alright, now that I've fully listened through Heart Station once more, I have my full opinion.

All in all, it would be a solid album from anyone BUT Utada Hikaru. She has higher expectations, and this failed to meet them. First of all, the sheer tiny number of new Album tracks is disappointing. Take off Boku wa Kuma and one of the versions of Flavor of Life(Why the hell where both versions placed on, even if one was a bonus track?) and give us two more original tracks. Also, axe the Gentle Beast Interlude, and give us a song that transitions us. Interludes piss me off, I feel like it's wasted space on an album.

This era, in my opinion, had one too many double A-sides, it really bogs down the album with tracks that the listener has already heard. One is fine, but 2 was pushing it. Stay Gold wasn't A-side material, it should have been a B-side on the Heart Station single, and not included on the album, after all, what purpose is there to buy the single if the tracks are just going to be on the album? It was a stupid marketing strategy.

Now, for the album tracks. When I heard "Fight the Blues" for the first time, I was psyched. I figured that even though the number of album tracks was unsatisfactory, the songs themselves would make up for that. WRONG. Prisoner of Love is arguably the worst song I've ever heard pass the woman's lips, and yes, I am including THE WORKOUT from EXODUS. I couldn't even finish it, I thought my head was going to split open. Take 5 is forgetable, and Nijiiro Bus is decent, but it lacks that "wow" affect Hikki's songs usually have on me. HOWEVER, Celebrate and Fight the Blues are amazing, probably the highlights of the album tracks if you ask me.

Heart Station had some good singles, Beautiful World, Flavor of Life, Kiss & Cry, the title track itself. However, it felt too loaded with single tracks, it almost made me feel like I was listening to a best album. If I had my chance to re-arrange the album, I'd take off the bonus track, Boku wa Kuma, and Stay Gold, and replace them with new songs.

All in all, Heart Station is a dramatic drop from the glory that is Ultra Blue. If this is the future of Hikki, I'm really scared. Honestly, I can't take another album like this. I've never felt this way about a Hikki album before, but it was just... bland. It was like Hikki was playing it safe, she wasn't venturing out and advancing herself musically, she stuck to the same formula. It was a disappointing album, but at least Celebrate and Fight the Blues are absolutely gorgeous and make up for a good portion of the disaster <3

My Ranking:
01. Ultra Blue
02. Deep River
03. Distance
04. First Love
05. Heart Station
06. Exodus

[CHE.R.RY]

Well since everyone was giving their ranks...I guess I'll give mine

1. HEART STATION
2. Distance
3. ULTRA BLUE
4. Exodus
5. Deep River
6. First Love

EDIT: ^To you above me, it's funny, I thought the complete opposite. I thought this album was a VERY nice follow-up to ULTRA BLUE and showed great potential. There was a lot of diversity and that's what made it so interesting. I will agree with you that there were too many singles and not enough new stuff (which this is the 3rd time this has happened to me with an artist and it's really starting to bother me), and that both versions of 'Flavor of Life' should NOT have been included on the album...even though I took back what I said about 'Boku wa Kuma' not being a good choice to put on the album, I have to say that when Utada put both versions of 'Flavor of Life' and 'Boku wa Kuma' it felt like she was just looking for fillers. Oh and the only other bad thing was the fact that Utada's vocals sounded really strained at times...
The 'Gentle Beast Interlude' was amazing IMO (her interludes never disappoint). But you know, I used to say the same thing, that interludes were pointless and were just taking up space on the album, but I learned from fellow users that they serve as transitioners and are very important at times. Besides, some of them have very groovey sounds to them
But yeah, just thought it was a little interesting how our opinions were the complete opposite, but please don't take this as criticism towards your opinions; I was just reflecting is all

[PURIN]

i dont know there is so much hate on heart station, i love the album tracks so much more than the singles!
history
ive always loved alot of hikaru's songs, almost all of them on first love (apart from in my room, movin on without you) distance was soso (singles were good), deep river was gold (love every single song on it), ultra blue was pretty good (minus kairo, negai kokoro, passion)
im wasnt too pleased with the singles on this album, but i think the album tracks are so much better.. i honestly think kiss & cry and beautiful world is the worst single ever released by hikki.. and then the boku wa kuma, LOLZ no comment...heart station was good but didnt love it as much as all of her other singles, stay gold was amazing tho! flavor of life series was just soso to me, but WOW celebrate, prisoner of love, take 5 are all amazing, i didnt like fight the blues so much, and nijiro bus is just soso,

[KarenPang]

while I admit there's a lack of new songs on HEART STATION , it's a pretty solid offering from Utada .

I gave the new songs a listen/run dry eariler & they're looking good . Fight The Blues's nice & Nijiiro Bus didn't sound as retarded as I thought it will be .

[AyUta]

A lot of people seem to like this album, yet, a lot of people seem to hate it as well. But as for me, I love it. I think it's her best album so far. Although the only thing I can say that was a tad bit too much was the fact that she included both versions of 'FOL'. 'Boku wa Kuma' didn't bother me, it was rather refreshing to listen to it after not having listened to it for about a year >.>; She sounded so cute <3 The same goes for 'BW' and 'K&C'. But it was all good. I loved ALL of the new tracks. They were great, especially 'Take 5'. Too bad it stops abruptly, but credit to hayasaki and Akutenshi for creating extended versions of it. Happily downloaded and greatly appreciated <3
This album was different from her other releases and that pleased me. Just glad to know she still has it, it's hard to doubt her works. They're all so great.
I like how in 'Celebrate', she says "Sexy Lady" Makes her sound cute for some odd reason.

Over all, I give this album a 5/5 & it's my fav album from her now.

Rankings:
HEART STATION
DEEP RIVER
FIRST LOVE/EXODUS
ULTRA BLUE
DISTANCE/PRECIOUS(Cubic U)

***Sometimes it's REALLY hard to place Hikki's albums in order of my fav ones. They're all too good and sometimes I doubt where I place them. xD

[ladytaboo]

Just finished listening to it twice. Though I love these singles more than UB's singles, I liked UB more as a whole. I don't know, with the exception of Take 5, Prisoner of Love, and Fight the Blues (FTB and Take 5 being my absolute faves), none of the album tracks really stuck with me.

So, my rank.
- Deep River
- Distance
- First Love
- Ultra Blue
- Exodus
- Heart Station

I kinda hate giving HS a low rating, but I'm thinking it'll change once I listen to the songs more.

[[taskin.ayu]]

It's a decent album. I quite like the new tracks. The things that bother me are the huge SLAB of single tracks. It's kinda annoying. I think ALL artists, (not just Utada) should stop with the double a-sides. What happened to albums where there were more album tracks that single tracks? O_O

[Luv ~Venus~]

^That's what a lot people have said about the album....that all the singles are all slap together. O:

Do you think that if she had seperated them by adding the new songs in between each old track, the albu would have been really better than what it already is?

Originally Posted by AyUta

I like how in 'Celebrate', she says "Sexy Lady" Makes her sound cute for some odd reason.

I wanna hear "Sexy Lady". Ooooooooh, you guys are so tempting me to dl the album.

[truehappiness]

Well, there's also a lot more PVs out in the market when there are more single songs, so I think that's a good thing about them.

But otherwise.. meh. 2As get people to buy, and 1As are kinda like.... meh. If you want higher sales, a 2A isn't a bad idea. 1A will not sell well unless you are Sen no kaze ni natte. XD

[[taskin.ayu]]

^ Oh yeah, I forgot about more PVs.. I guess it has it's good and bad stuff. xD You know.. this album actually reminds me of older Utada albums, it is more "warm", I considered ULTRA BLUE a bit cold. :/

EDIT: Luv ~Venus~: Actually yes, I have listened to the single tracks a lot and probably will send up skipping the whole group since I've heard them all quite a few times. D: